He heard footsteps behind him. And he had guessed it would be Marcus. The kid appeared, carrying a loaf of bread.
"Thought you might be hungry. You ate a little at dinner," the kid said, offering it.
Eli took it, and started to sit again, chewing the bread slowly. "Thanks."
They sat in silence for a moment, watching the corrupted souls wander the streets below. With Soul Sense active, Eli could feel each one of them.
"So," Marcus said eventually. "Soul Purification. You can cleanse other people's corruption now?"
"Yeah. Unlocked at Rank D."
"Have you tried it?"
"Not yet. No one here is corrupted."
"But if someone did get corrupted…"
"I could save them," Eli finished his words. "Instead of having to consume their soul or eliminate them."
Marcus nodded slowly. "That's good. Really good."
"Yeah."
"And that Soul Chain Ability? What's that do?"
"Let me link multiple souls together and consume them sequentially," Eli explained. "More efficient in group fights. I can grab three or four souls at once, chain them together, and consume them one after another without having to grasp each one individually."
"So you could clear a whole group of revenants in seconds?"
"Theoretically. I haven't tested it yet."
Marcus grinned. "We should test it."
"Maybe tomorrow. If we encounter a large group."
Thye sat quietly, Eli finishing his bread. The safe zone below was peaceful. People were sleeping, Sophie curled up next to her brother's sleeping bag, Linda keeping watch with one of the Glocks, Mr. Chen doing maintenance on the rifles.
"We're going to make it. Aren't we?" Marcus asked suddenly.
Eli looked at him. The kid's eyes were hopeful but uncertain.
"Yeah," Eli said, and he almost believed it. "We're going to make it."
"How can you be sure?"
Eli pulled out one of the golden vials, holding it up to the red moonlight. The liquid inside swirled with warm, living light.
"Because now I have tools. Real tools. Not just powers that cost me my humanity. The system isn't just throwing me into the fire anymore. It's giving me what I need to survive."
"And that's enough?"
"It has to be."
Marcus nodded. "Then tomorrow, we build."
"Tomorrow, we build," Eli agreed.
*******
3 hours later, the notification woke Eli from a light sleep. He had learned to sleep like a soldier now, never had a deep sleep, always ready to move.
[DAILY QUESTS RESET]
[NEW DAILY QUESTS AVAILABLE]
[QUEST 1: SECURE ADVANCED RESOURCES]
[COLLECT: BUILDING MATERIALS (0/20 UNITS), TOOLS (0/5 SETS), MEDICAL SUPPLIES (0/10 UNITS)]
[REWARD: +200 EXP, CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY CACHE]
[QUEST 2: FORTIFY SAFE ZONE]
[CONSTRUCT DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES USING BLUEPRINTS (0/3)]
[REWARD: +250 EXP, SAFE ZONE LEVEL INCREASE]
[QUEST 3: EXPAND TERRITORY]
[CLEAR CORRUPTED SOULS WITHIN 200M RADIUS (0/15)]
[REWARD: +200 EXP, TERRITORY EXPANSION]
[ACCEPT ALL? Y/N]
Different quests this time. More focused on building and expansion rather than just survival.
'The system is adapting to my rank,' Eli realized.
He accepted all three.
The sky was still dark, maybe it was still 3 AM. But Eli was wide awake now.
He pulled up the corruption map, checking the surrounding area.
The two red dots were still there. One had moved closer, now only 250 meters northeast. The other remained stationary at 400 meters south.
'I need to deal with those eventually. High corruption revenants are a threat to the safe zone.'
But not now. Not at 3 AM with everyone asleep.
Instead, Eli opened the Survivor Management inferface, curious about something.
[SURVIVOR ROSTER]
He focused on Mr. Chen's profile.
[MR. CHEN (71)]
[LOYALTY: 68%]
[MORALE: 74%]
[ROLE: ADVISOR]
[SKILLS:]
[- FIREARMS (EXPERT): +40% ACCURACY, +25% RELOAD SPEED]
[- SURVIVAL (EXPERT): +30% RESOURCE EFFICIENCY, HAZARD DETECTION]
[- TEACHING (EXCELENT): CAN TRAIN OTHER SURVIVORS, +15% SKILL GAIN FOR STUDENTS]
[- MILITARY TACTICS (ADVANCED): CAN PLAN DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES]
[BACKGROUND: FORMER ARMY SERGEANT, 20 YEARS SERVICE, MULTIPLE COMBAT DEPLOYMENTS]
[HEALTH: DECLINING (AGE RELATED), REQUIRES REGULAR MEDICATION]
[SPECIAL NOTE: LOYALTY INCREASED BY PROTECTING FAMILY MEMBERS]
"Family members?" Eli muttered.
He pulled up his quest log history and found it. Amanda Chen. The nurse he had consumed early on.
David Chen should have been her husband.
Mr. Chen's son.
'Shit.'
Eli's stomach twisted. Mr. Chen didn't know that Eli had consumed his son and his daughter in law's souls. He didn't know that their consciousness had been processed into energy, dissolved into Eli's core to fuel his powers.
'Do I tell him?'
The question haunted him.
The system suddenly answered his thoughts.
[SYSTEM ADVISORY]
[SURVIVOR LOYALTY CAN BE AFFECTED BY TRUTH DISCLOSURE]
[MR. CHEN LOYALTY: 68%]
[ESTIMATED LOYALTY AFTER DISCLOSURE: 25-40% (HOSTILE TO NEUTRAL)]
[RECOMMENDATION: WITHHOLD INFORMATION UNLESS DIRECTLY ASKED]
"Of course you'd say that," Eli whispered bitterly.
But the system had a point. If Mr. Chen turned hostile, it could fracture the entire group. Marcus would side with the old man, as they bonded. Linda would be torn. The safe zone could collapse.
'One more secret to carry.'
Eli closed the interface and stood up. Sleep wouldn't come now.
He grabbed the soul attuned M4 and climbed to the roof.
*******
The red sky was beginning to lighten. Not with dawn, but with that strange bloody glow that passed for sunrise in this new world.
Eli activated his Soul Sense fully, pushing its range to the maximum 500 meters.
Immediately, his awareness exploded outward.
He could feel every corrupted soul within range. Not just see them on a map, but feel them. Their locations, their corruption levels, and their emotional states.
The green dots on low corruption, mostly confused and afraid. Lost souls trapped in dead bodies, not yet aware enough to be dangerous.
The yellow dots, medium ones, were frustrated and hungry. Starting to understand they were dead, starting to resent the living.
The orange dots on high corruption were angry and predatory. These knew what they were. They haunted.
The red dots were the extreme corruption, pure malevolence. These had been consumed by corruption entirely. No humanity left, just hunger and rage.
One of the red dots was moving again. Not sure it was patrolling or hunting.